Her op-eds applying lessons of the past to present-day problems have appeared in a variety of media nationwide, from print, to television, to radio.

Unger also has written two award-winning biographies, Fighting Bob La Follette: The Righteous Reformer; and Belle La Follette: Progressive Era Reformer. Her book Beyond Nature’s Housekeepers: American Women in Environmental History was a California Book Award finalist. Her new book, co-edited with Oregon State University Professor Christopher McKnight Nichols, is A Companion to the Gilded Age and Progressive Era.

A Seattle native, Unger graduated from Gonzaga University with a bachelor’s in history; she received both her master’s degree and her Ph.D in history at the University of Southern California.